'They had to get out of that headache': Experts weigh in on the Patriots and Antonio Brown

Antonio Brown’s short stint with the New England Patriots came to an abrupt end last Friday, when the team announced that it was releasing the wide receiver from the one-year contract he had signed just 11 days prior. The move, made in the midst of sexual assault allegations against Brown, did not come as a shock to most NFL pundits. 

“There were just too many things going on,” said Karen Guregian, longtime Patriots reporter for the Boston Herald. “I know people are innocent until proven guilty, but when you're a football team like the Patriots you can't have all these distractions, and you can't keep having to defend somebody week after week after week.” 

The Patriots seemed to reach that same conclusion about Brown’s departure. Declining to comment on the issue following Sunday’s 30-14 win over the New York Jets, head coach Bill Belichick and various players have since made it clear that their focus remains on the game, not their former teammate. 

“[The Patriots] stood by him for two weeks, and then I'm sure Robert [Kraft] started hearing from sponsors and things like that,” said Ben Volin of The Boston Globe. “And that's when the axe always falls.”

Brown’s first week as a Patriot was disrupted by a civil lawsuit filed by former trainer Britney Taylor, that included allegations of sexual assault and rape. Sports Illustrated then published another article days later, exposing many more troublesome allegations against Brown, ranging from domestic incidents to other allegations of sexual assault from an unnamed artist who was hired to paint a mural in Brown’s home. 

The artist, who was fired by Brown after not reciprocating his alleged sexual advances, received “intimidating texts” from Brown in the wake of the Sports Illustrated article detailing her allegations against him.

“They really had no choice when those text messages were discovered last week,” said Mark Daniels, Patriots reporter at the Providence Journal.

 “When they signed him, they're saying that they didn't know about this civil lawsuit against him,” Daniels added. “And of course with that type of stuff, you sort of have to tread carefully with lawsuits when you’re not dealing with criminal investigations. However, when Antonio Brown did something under contract with the Patriots, it changed absolutely everything. They had to get out of that headache. At the end of the day it was a PR nightmare.”

Brown’s tumultuous reputation does not begin and end in New England. The receiver was released from the Oakland Raiders after just six months by his own demand, after the team reportedly voided $30 million in guaranteed salary.

“Dating back to when he first signed in Oakland, it's just been a steady stream of updates and incidents,” said Andrew Callahan, Patriots beat reporter for MassLive. “Whether you want to go back to clashing with coaches at minicamp when he was at the Raiders and then with the front office, or the helmet issue, the frostbite on his feet and calling the general manager a cracker. With him, it wasn't just a single incident.”

 Just hours after his release, Brown was rumored to be in negotiations with New England, a team that is no stranger to giving second chances to problematic players. 

“They’re able to bring [players] in, mean they've done it so many times in the past— whether it's Corey Dillon, Randy Moss, Albert Haynesworth— and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't,” Guregian said. “And if it doesn't work they're quick to get rid of the player if they're not able to have that player either assimilate or go by the rules.”

Despite their seemingly amicable parting on Friday, the Patriots and owner Robert Kraft became a target of Brown’s Twitter tirade Sunday night. In since-deleted tweets, the receiver took shots at Kraft, who was charged with soliciting prostitution earlier this year, and announced that he was done playing in the NFL as long as “owners can cancel deals [and] do whatever they want at anytime.” 

Brown seems to be taking his NFL retirement quite seriously. According to his social media, Brown has re-enrolled at Central Michigan University to take online classes. But some, including co-host of the Patriots Nation podcast Pat Lane, aren’t convinced that Brown has seen his last days in the league. 

“I think it speaks to the NFL, when you look at the NFL as a whole, as some of the guys that have been out there,” said Lane, who is also a Patriots reporter for SBNation. 

“You know, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick and guys like this where talent is king,” Lane added. “Everyone has off-field issues, but at the end of the day if you're talented, you're going to get a job. Once this thing blows over— if it ever does blow over, once the investigation goes through and assuming Antonio Brown still wants to play in the NFL— some team will go after him and hire him because he’s one of the best receivers in the NFL. So it's just the way it is.”